SCOTS JEWS: IDENTITY, BELONGING AND THE FUTURE
Photographer: Judah Passow
Producer: Michael Mail
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT AT 92ND STREET Y WEILL ART GALLERY
NEW YORK, NY: February – Documentary photographer Judah Passow has spent the last year photographing Scotland’s Jewish community, travelling across the country – from the Shetlands to the Borders – producing a portrait which captures the complexity and diversity of the Scottish narrative of Jewish life at the beginning of the 21st century.
His photographs will be exhibited in the solo show Scots Jews: Identity, Belonging and the Future at the
92nd Street Y Weill Art Gallery from Wednesday, March 5 through Sunday, April 27. There will be an
opening reception on April 3 from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition coincides with Tartan Week in New York,
celebrating Scottish links to the U.S.
The Scottish Jewish community dates back to at least the 1700s and, for most of that time, constituted
the largest non-Christian community in the country. It has produced scientists and doctors, judges and
Members of Parliament, artists and writers – and farmers and foresters, and kilt makers and whisky
distillers! The story of this community and how it maintains its traditions, while fully embracing Scottish
culture is a fascinating one and yet, surprisingly, little has been formally presented on its existence.
This project, which received support from Creative Scotland, the main Scottish funding body, explores
one of the contemporary Jewish community’s defining characteristics – the ability to simultaneously
acknowledge its heritage, live in the creative present, and build for the future. The photographs serve
as a visual conversation, looking at what it is that drives and defines the community what it does that
gives meaning as Jews living in Scotland in the new century.
Judah Passow notes, “This project has been a real voyage of discovery across the spiritual and cultural
landscape of Scotland. One of its more remarkable features is the warm, proud Jewish community that
has become so tightly woven into the national fabric. I hope people looking at these photographs will
see what I saw – a people deeply devoted to their heritage both as Jews and Scots.”
Michael Mail, who created and is managing the exhibition, comment, “I was looking for a way to
recognise and celebrate the story of the remarkable, yet little known, Scottish Jewish community – my
community. When I came across Judah Passow’s photography, I immediately realised that he had the
skill, sensitivity and artistry to take on this subject and create a truly memorable piece of work, which is
precisely what Judah has achieved with Scots Jews.”
Robert Gilson, Director, 92nd Street Y School of the Arts and the curator for exhibits in the Weill Art
Gallery, remarks “When one thinks of Scotland, Jewish is not usually the first word that comes to mind.
Yet Scotland, like so many parts of the world, has a thriving Jewish community that fully embraces both
Scottish culture and Jewish identity. Judah Passow’s photographs reveal the richness and complexity
of Jewish life in Scotland, providing us with an intimate glimpse into a previously unknown world.”
92Y’s Weill Art Gallery is open to the public on specific dates and to ticketholders for 92Y events. For
details, please click here http://www.92y.org/Exhibits.
WHAT: Scots Jews: Identity, Belonging and the Future: Photographs by Judah Passow
WHEN: Wed, Mar 5 – Sun, Apr 27, 2014
WHERE: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave, New York, NY
HOURS: http://www.92y.org/Exhibits
Press Information: Meryl Wheeler, mwheeler@92Y.org | 212.413.8841
About the Photographer
Judah Passow has been working on assignments for American and European magazines and
newspapers since 1978.
Based in London, his work has been published extensively by all of the leading British newspapers and
their associated magazines, including the Guardian, the Observer, the Times and Sunday Times, the
Daily and Sunday Telegraph and the Independent. Abroad, he has contributed regularly to Time,
Newsweek and the New York Times in America, Der Spiegel and Die Zeit in Germany, Elsevier
magazine and De Volkskraant in Holland, Das magazine in Switzerland and L’Express in France.
A winner of four World Press Photo awards for his coverage of conflict in the Middle East, his
photographs have been exhibited in London, York, Leeds, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris,
Arles, Perpignan, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, New York, and Washington D.C.
In 1995 Passow formed Further Vision, a New Media production company, to explore the possibilities
for combining traditional photojournalism with digital technology. His CD-ROM, Days of Rage, based on
his work in Beirut from 1982 to 1985, received critical acclaim in the British press for its journalistic
integrity and technological innovation.
He was an Artist In Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1998, where he
directed the New Media Centre’s Digital Photojournalism Laboratory, and has served as a consultant to
the Soros Foundation’s Open Society Institute training photojournalists on newspapers in the former
Eastern Europe. He is a frequent lecturer on photojournalism at British universities.
His book Shattered Dreams, looking back at twenty five years of his coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict, was published in 2008 and accompanied by major exhibitions in London, Hamburg and
Jerusalem. It was nominated for that year’s Deutsche Borse Photography Prize.
Photography critic Steve Mayes noted in Reuel Golden’s book “Witness: The World’s Greatest News
Photographers”, that “Judah Passow has an extraordinary ability to distil complex situations into
powerfully loaded images that are deceptively simple to look at. He starts with a conceptual overview
of a political or social situation and looks for circumstances that demonstrate the human reality,
producing clean, graphic frames that combine metaphor and actuality. His signature black-and-white
technique has cut-glass clarity and beauty with a sensual quality that seduces the viewer to engage
with even the grimmest reality. He is driven to extremes of professional endeavour by his idealistic
belief in the power of photography and technical perfectionism.”
Passow graduated from Boston University in the United States in 1971, and lives in London with his
wife, the painter Alene Strausberg.
About 92nd Street Y
92Y is a world-class nonprofit community and cultural center that connects people at every stage of life to the
worlds of education, the arts, health and wellness, and Jewish life. Through the breadth and depth of 92Y’s
extraordinary programs, 92Y enriches lives, creates community and elevates humanity. More than 300,000
people visit 92Y in New York City annually and many more connect through digital and social media, live
webcasts of events, and an extensive archive of stage programs and original content produced for the web, all
available on 92YOnDemand.org. A proudly Jewish organization since its founding in 1874, 92Y embraces its
heritage and enthusiastically welcomes people of all backgrounds and perspectives. For more information, visit
www.92Y.org.
A PDF version of this announcement is available here: https://interfaithcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Scots_Jews-92nd-St-Y-press-release.pdf.
